Low voltage outdoor lighting fixtures have been widely utilized to illuminate buildings, landscaping, gardens, pathways, and entrance ways. The display of lighting in such areas is aesthetically pleasing and can provide sufficient lighting to permit a safe movement in such areas in the nighttime. Additionally, landscape lighting provides enhanced security by illuminating possible hiding places for intruders. Low voltage landscape lighting systems typically include multiple low voltage lighting fixtures that are electrically connected to a 120 volt transformer with a 12 volt output. The transformer can be plugged into a standard 120V electrical outlet. The multiple lighting fixtures are typically connected to the low voltage transformer with a copper low voltage wire. A solar collector panel that can be located on top of the lighting fixture, or remotely from the lighting fixture, so that electrical energy can be collected from a sunny location during the day to power the operation of the lighting fixture at night. Generally, each landscape lighting fixture includes a ground stake portion that is placed into the ground to support the mounting of the lighting fixture thereon.
Conventionally, the lighting fixture is mounted to the top of the ground stake and extends upwardly therefrom. Accordingly, care is usually taken to orient the ground stake vertically so that the lighting fixture mounted thereon will also be oriented vertically. However, occasionally obstructions beneath the surface of the ground will prevent the ground stake from being positioned vertically, usually resulting in the relocation of the ground stake to a less desirable location or the retention of the lighting fixture in a non-vertical orientation. Also, after the light fixture has been installed for a period of time, the movement of the ground due, to freezing and thawing, can cause the ground stake to move from its vertical position resulting in the light fixture being in a non-vertical orientation, as well.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a landscape lighting system that can accommodate a misaligned ground stake.
A low voltage light fixture for use as a landscape light is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,648, granted to Jay J. Kabuk, et al, on Sep. 27, 1988, in which a ground stake is driven into the ground to support the mounting of a lighting fixture. The lighting fixture includes a male adapter that is configured to engage a corresponding female adapter on a post mounted onto the stake to provide clearance for the passage of electrical wires to the lighting fixture.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,877, granted to E. Ray Carter on Aug. 22, 1989, discloses a plastic standard for supporting a light fixture adjacent to the ground for utilization as a landscape light. The plastic ground stake passes through a stabilizer member buried beneath the surface of the ground to maintain positioning of the ground stake. The lighting fixture is simply affixed to the closed top end of the ground stake and connected to the electrical wiring extending upwardly through the ground stake.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,993, issued on Aug. 16, 1994, to Michael J. Hersman, teaches a stake-based support system for landscape lighting. The support system includes a fixed stand detachably connected to mounting pins buried in a block of concrete. A central spike is also inserted into the concrete and projects upwardly therefrom to terminate in a threaded pipe attached to the fixed stand to permit the detachable connection of a landscaping device. The landscape device can be a lighting fixture, a water sprinkler appropriately connected to a water supply through the fixed stand, a flagpole or any other devices utilized in the landscape industry.
The lighting fixture in the landscape lighting system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,760, issued to Joshua A. Beadle on Jul. 22, 1997, is mounted in a fixed housing member having a support therein configured to receive the lighting fixture. The lighting fixture, however, is movable within the housing member such that the lighting fixture can be oriented within the support to rest thereon without being fully seated within the support. Thus, the lighting fixture can be oriented to be directed into a different direction than the axial direction of the housing member.
A ground stake is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,993,040, granted to Joshua Beadle on Aug. 9, 2011, in which the top portion of the ground stake has an interior threaded member to receive a lighting fixture post and an exterior threaded member by which a protective housing for the lighting fixture can be mounted. The ground stake is molded to fit wiring and connectors within interior compartments, and to fit a transparent window on the side for observation of the interior connections.
None of the above-described prior art references teach or suggest a landscape lighting system that utilizes a ground stake and a pivot mechanism interconnecting the ground stake and the lighting fixture to permit an orientation of the lighting fixture relative to the ground stake. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a landscape lighting system that overcomes the aforementioned disadvantages of the known prior art to provide a landscape lighting system that incorporated an adjustability feature between the ground stake and the lighting fixture whereby the lighting fixture can be oriented vertically irrespective of the corresponding orientation of the ground stake as placed into the ground.